


Interludes and Examinations

by Tamoline



Series: Lawyers, Swords and Secrets [2]
Category: Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny, The Good Wife (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-26
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 18:39:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/943319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamoline/pseuds/Tamoline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of short snippets between Lawyers, Swords and Secrets and the next story in the sequence.</p><p>Alicia may be living on Earth now, but that doesn't mean that her life isn't still intertwined with the lives of inhabitants of Amber. Including, of course, that of Kalinda.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interludes and Examinations

My doorbell rings.

Standing outside is...

Standing outside is not the last person I'd expect, but she's fairly low down on the list.

Honestly, seeing her here, on *Earth*, especially dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, without a visible weapon is a slightly surreal experience.

"Kalinda?" I say as I open the door.

"Hey," she says, smiling slightly

"Me too," comes Ciara's voice from around the corner, out of the line of sight of door. Probably deliberately, if I know her.

"What," I say, shaking my head slightly. "What are you *doing* here?"

It's not that I haven't seen her at all since taking up the queen's offer - I've been to Amber a few times since, and we've managed to meet up every time for at least an hour or so - but she hasn't even mentioned coming to this world before.

She shrugs. "Was in the area."

Ciara moves into view. "Are you going to invite us in?"

"Oh," I say. "Sure." I step backwards, and invite them in with a gesture. "Please, make yourselves at home."

Kalinda walks in, then Ciara and they follow me to the living room.

Ciara seats herself on one of the chairs, but Kalinda remains standing, prowling around the room. 

Ciara glances towards Kalinda, then back towards me. "The General decided that we needed to get training with some alternative weapons. Operations on different worlds and all. This was one of the stopovers."

I raise an eyebrow. "Should you be telling me this? I am employed by the crown now, after all."

Kalinda shrugs in the background.

"We trust you," Ciara says. "Besides, it's not that big a secret. Though don't feel that you have to put it in your next dispatch."

"Luckily, spying for the crown is not among my many duties," I say, then add, "That's what I've been told to tell you, anyway."

Ciara snorts a little. Even Kalinda twists her lips.

"So, is there a reason for this visit, or is it just for small talk?"

"Small talk," Kalinda says. "How're things going?"

Well, they asked for it. I quite happily ramble about Grace and Zach - their progress through school, however much of their social lives I'm actually permitted to know about. The small things that I was shut out of for so long. The important things.

I steer away from Peter. He's in our lives still - of course he is, the kids are even with him at the moment - but I'm not really sure that I want to touch that subject with Kalinda.

Kalinda either is actually interested, or does a good job of faking it. She even sits down.

Ciara does look a little glazed, but she's a good sport about it.

"How about you?" I ask. "Anything new in your lives?"

Kalinda shrugs. "It hasn't been that long for us." Which I'm aware is true on a number of levels. Both the obvious, and, well, people in Amber have a disconcerting habit of doing things like referring to a war that has been over for twenty five years as though it had only finished yesterday.

I glance at the time. "Would you like to go out and catch some dinner? I probably can't get anywhere particularly good at this short notice..."

"Is there anywhere you'd like to go?" Kalinda asks. "Regardless of how improbable it is."

"I can think of one or two." If nothing else, there have been some places that opened up whilst I was away that I've been meaning to give a go.

She gets back up again, and starts pacing purposefully around the room. There's something almost hypnotic about her movements. "Contact them," she says after a moment, dislodging me from my semi-trance. "They'll have space."

I raise an eyebrow, but pick up my phone.

"This is the Galatea. How may I help you?"

"I'm sorry, but I was hoping to pick up a last minute booking for this evening."

On the face of it, the request is implausible to say the least. The waiting list for places is apparently over a month long. But I'm willing to humour Kalinda this much.

"I regret to..." the man's voice trails off. ”No, sorry, a table has just opened up at 8. A last minute cancellation. Will that be suitable?"

How very... convenient.

"Yes," I say slowly, "Thank you. There'll be three of us. Name of Cavanaugh."

"Thank you, ma'am. Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you," I say and hang up. I give Kalinda a hard look. "They just happened to have an opening."

She gives me a tight smile. "Power over shadows. It's one of the advantages of the blood."

"Just like it's coincidence that you happened to turn up on a night when the kids would be gone."

"Hardly be a point visiting if you wouldn't be free. I didn't influence you, though, just when we'd turn up," she says, giving me a slightly wary look.

"I see," I say noncommittally, then give her a smile, letting her off the hook. This time. And at least she's learning. "Useful ability."

She relaxes. "*More* useful if it worked on family. Or in Amber."

I laugh. "I can see that." I stand up. "Well, if I'm going out to dinner tonight, I'd better get changed." I look Kalinda up and down, then spare a glance for Ciara. "It wouldn't hurt if you managed to acquire a change of clothing, either."

"Really?" Kalinda asks. "And what would you suggest?" There's a subtle edge to her voice, though whether it's amusement or something else, I'm not entirely certain.

Apparently, I've lost some of what ability I had at reading her.

Ciara, too, has perked up, doubtless looking for a chance to mock if I should make a misstep here.

I try to imagine Kalinda in *anything* that might be considered appropriate for a high class restaurant, and my mind just rebels.

Then again, jeans wouldn't have been within my repertoire for her before tonight, either.

Ciara isn't exactly easy to imagine outside a suit of armour, either.

So I toss the ball back in them. "I'm sure you'll think of something," I toss over my shoulder as I disappear further inside the apartment.

I don't have anywhere near as long as I'd like to prepare for this kind of outing - not that my choice of clothing is *that* important. (But...) In the end, I settle for my standby outfit for meeting important client.

It feels a bit more impersonal than I'd really like, but I can only hope that Kalinda won't realise that.

When I emerge back into the living room, Ciara still wearing the same jeans and jacket.

Kalinda, though...

Where did she manage to *find* a skirt that short?

And those boots. Those are definitely *not* the boots she arrived in.

"You managed to find a change of clothing I see," I manage, shooting for unaffected and *definitely* reminding myself that, although she may no longer be my client, there are any *number* of reasons why even attempting to start *anything* with her would be a very bad idea.

For a start, she's a princess of Amber who is, at best, ambiguously neutral to my employer's agenda. Then there's the fact that she lives in Amber, and I don't. I can't. Certainly not for a number of years.

Not to mention if anything went sour...

Well, best not even think about that.

She's a friend, a long distance friend who I occasionally see. And nothing more.

She smirks a little. "Finding things is a talent," she says. "Are *these* more appropriate?" she asks.

Let's go for... "Yes," I reply. "Let's get to the restaurant, shall we?"

Dinner... is not precisely a continuation of before. We talk - of course we talk - but as the evening goes on I become aware of an underlying... intensity to Kalinda that I haven't seen before. A slight burning of the eyes, always focused on me. A restless movement of her fingers, and her feet.

Ciara's quieter than usual, too, and seems to spend a lot of her time watching *Kalinda* more than anyone or anything else, with occasional glances at me.

I'm not sure, but it seems like she's almost concerned.

And the later it gets, the more obvious it gets. Or maybe it's just that I'm becoming more attuned to her mood, my eyes following her hands and her mouth.

It's somehow not a surprise at all that, rather than ending the night after the meal, or even retiring back to my apartment, Kalinda says, "Shall we continue this at a bar?".

*That* definitely gets a reaction from Ciara. "Are you sure that's a good idea, general?" she asks in a tone of voice which suggests that she definitely thinks it isn't.

Kalinda turns her attention fully towards Ciara for the first time in a while. "Why don't we let Alicia decide the venue?"

Ciara nods slowly, then looks at me. "What do you think?"

I'm not quite sure what the game is here, and neither of the other two seem inclined to tell me just at the moment. But a bar seems safer than my apartment, and I do know a few good ones nearby. "Sure," I say. "Follow me."

Kalinda actually relaxes a little as soon as we get inside my chosen venue. "It's nice," she says, with a smile I haven't seen on her before. A less shielded one, making her look younger than I've seen her before. "I like it. It feels a lot like one my father used to take me to."

Ciara stumbles a little at that, but doesn't say anything.

And I... I've never heard her say *anything* about her father before. She rarely says anything about her mother - and it's always strained at *best* when she does - but her other parent? 

She's never even mentioned him.

"Really?" I ask.

I can almost see Kalinda's shields go up in response to that, and she just tilts her head. "The place is gone now, of course," she says, and heads off towards the bar.

Of course, I guess.

I decided to take the opportunity to quiz Ciara. "Is there anything going on?"

She gives me a measuring look before replying. "The general... needs to blow off steam every now and again. This has the feel of one of those. Though..." she trails off, then shrugs. "No offense, but you're not precisely the kind of company she tends to seek out in these kind of moods."

That sounds a little ominous. "Is having me here a good thing or a bad thing?"

"If I knew, I'd be a lot happier," she tells me frankly.

Well, *that's* reassuring, isn't it?

The good news is that coming into this bar seems to calm Kalinda down, at least temporarily. She doesn't mention her father again, or anything connected to him as far as I can tell, but she does seem willing to talk about Amber, and offers perspectives on recent events that I simply haven't been able to get anywhere else.

I like to think that, even at the remove I'm operating at these days, I offer her the same opportunity. I don't talk about anything privileged, but I can talk about generalities in the law, and how it's changing.

The bad news is that, as time goes on, the intensity returns. After a while, she doesn't seem able to stay in the same place, prowling up and down the bar with drink in hand and us in tow.

It's gone eleven when she glances at Ciara, then back at me. "Think it's about time we said our goodbyes for the evening." She gives me a slight smile. "A pleasure, as always."

"Have a good night," I say, and impulsively hug her.

She freezes underneath my touch.

Oh god. 

What had I been thinking?

I must have had more to drink than I realised.

"I'm sorry," I say, speaking a little too quickly, as I start to release her. "It's just-"

Then she slowly hugs me in return, and suddenly I'm feeling way too hot.

Oh god, I think again. I've *definitely* had way too much to drink.

"I'll try and see you tomorrow before we leave," she says after she releases me.

I can't help smiling brightly at that. "Thanks. I'd appreciate that."

And, oh *god*, I'm in trouble, I think as I make my way towards the exit to call a taxi. I'm *so* lucky that she lives in Amber.

 

It's not quite seven-thirty the next morning when the doorbell rings again.

I check before opening the door.

It's Kalinda.

But not quite as immaculate as she was when I left her the night before. 

There's a faint line running down one cheek, as though from a weeks' old gash.

"Morning," she says as I open the door. Ciara isn't with her.

"What happened to you?" I ask.

She shrugs, and as she does so, I see what looks like a faded love bite on her neck. "I had a good night out," she says, as calm and tranquil as I've ever seen her.

If I were younger, less experienced, I might blush at that. Instead, all I do is look at her and say, "I see."

It's not fair to her that there's a twist of disappointment in my stomach.

It isn't as though she made me any promises, or even hinted at such.

But, well...

Apparently I'm not yet too old to make a fool of myself in that way, even if I managed to hide it from the world.

"Good," I say.

Because she's my friend.

That's all she is, and all she's going to be.

And I want to keep that, if nothing else.

"It's been good catching up with you," she says. "We'll have to do it again."

Preferably not on another 'good night out' I think a little acerbically, though I don't let those words pass my lips.

"I'd like that," I say, and smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I have some ideas for story snippets, but I'll happily take suggestions if anyone's got any.


End file.
